And more than anything else, that made her comfortable. Sleeping with Bradley felt like coming home.
He rucked up her dress in his hands, pulling it so it bared more of her. Fine by her. She wasn’t ashamed of her body and having been naked in front of so many people at once, it didn’t bother her at all, especially because she knew the best was still to come.
At the first touch of his fingers between her thighs, when he found her without underwear, she let out a thin, hungry sound. He stroked through her folds with the confidence of a man who knew exactly what he was doing. He went slowly but surely, teasing her body with every kiss and every touch. Kat rolled her hips, wanting more, wanting him to pull his pajama bottoms off and fill her. She craved that burning stretch, that moment of closeness, the way she could pretend for that time that everything was okay.
There was nothing better than that, than the way the world slowed to a stop when she entangled her body with someone else’s.
The fact it was Bradley made it more complicated, but more powerful.
Bradley groaned and pulled his hand away, muttering, “Impatient as ever, aren’t you?” He didn’t seem all that annoyed when he wrapped an arm around her waist and flipped them, putting her on her back beneath him. She kept her legs spread around him, not hiding anything from him.
He broke away enough to stare down at her, his gaze hungry. He gripped the hem of her dress and dragged it up until his expression changed. He furrowed his eyebrows, and Kat looked down to see what it was.
Oh.
He had his gaze locked onto the bottom of the long cut mark Jerry had left behind, at the place where it neared her pelvic bone. Right, he’d known she had a mark, but he obviously hadn’t realized just how far it went.
All the lust inside her disappeared. It didn’t just drift away, but felt like water boiled down to nothing, where she felt like a pot left on long after everything inside it had evaporated.
Kat scooted backward, then yanked her gown to cover herself. Not her pussy—what did she care if he saw that?—but the evidence of her suffering.
He didn’t stop her, didn’t do anything but frown. “Fuck,” he whispered, his gaze locked to her as if he could see it even through the fabric covering her.
“You’re right—this was a bad idea.”
He swallowed hard before nailing her with a hard look. “Just how bad did he hurt you?”
“It’s nothing.”
“That is sure as fuck not nothing.” The harshness of his words made Kat move away more. Bradley didn’t get mad often, but the fury in his voice came through loud and clear. He took a deep breath as if to calm himself, but the sharp edge to his words remained. “I didn’t realize…” He trailed off, looking unusually unsure of himself.
Kat rose from the bed, shaking her head and unable to put herself back together. Maybe if Bradley hadn’t stared like that, maybe she could have ignored the new marks. Maybe if he were anyone else, someone who wouldn’t realize that those marks were new, that they had changed her, she could have kept going.
Having him see them, though, having him freeze at the sight, it was too much. “Leave.”
He met her gaze at that. “What?”
“Exactly what I said. We’re done. This was a bad idea, like you said to start with. I’ve changed my mind.”
He pressed his lips together for a long moment. “So you’re going to just keep running, huh?”
“I’m not running. I just don’t want this. Are you going to ignore that?”
He sat up straighter, as if she’d thrown a challenge to him he couldn’t ignore. “You know I’m not going to pressure you into anything, Kat.”
“So you’ll leave?”
“Not a fucking chance. I’ll leave you alone tonight—believe it or not, I didn’t come back for this—but I’m not going back home, not until you’re better.”
“What if I’m never better?” Kat whispered, the question so hard to ask.
Bradley paused by the door and offered her a sad smile. “Then I guess you’ve got yourself a permanent roommate. As soon as you want to be free of me, when you’re sick of me hanging around, all you’ve got to do is stop running.” He didn’t wait for her to respond before walking out of the room, leaving Kat alone in the room, her body heavy and unsettled and sleep nowhere close.
Her gaze settled on the cup of warm milk, and she sighed.
Better, huh?
Better is a fucking fairy tale, and I’m too old to believe in that anymore.